During drug development it is important to predict the safety and efficiency of candidate drugs as early as possible in the process to reduce the risks for patients and to reduce costs. For example, cardiotoxicity is one of the primary reasons why new drugs are withdrawn during preclinical or full clinical trials and even after FDA approval.
The paper “A cell-based biosensor for real-time detection of cardiotoxicity using lens-free imaging” by Kim et al. describes a sensor which measures the effects of two different drugs, isoprenaline and doxorubicin, on the beating rate and beat-to-beat variations of ESC-derived cardiomyocytes. The system only allows detection of optical information related to the physical contraction of cardiomyocytes. Other parameters such as electrophysiological signals of cells cannot be recorded.
There is a need for techniques and devices which are compact and increase the accuracy of drug screening.